Dies Caniculares

Let’s see here, there’s the dog-star so it must be ‘dies caniculares,’ the dog days of summer. There are lots of people on the Island, although by all counts not as many as in previous years (which makes me question all this growth stuff and giant condos, but so be it). The surf is almost completely flat, for want of a nice tropical storm but please no hurricanes our way. The fishing is slow but there’s enough ‘tourist trout’ to keep the peeps interested.

Anyway, it is rather warm, although not as warm as the interior parts of the country. We're still below 90 degrees. That is thanks to the sea breeze and a patch of some relatively cool water offshore. You can click on the picture to get a better view and there’s a little teeny patch of blue off South Padre Island.



Those swirls mean something, namely warm water circulating in the yellow and red colors. I happened to find these graphics on the NOAA website and thought they were cool. Apparently, warm eddies are kicked out by the Loop Current by Cuba and Florida. Warm eddies have higher sea altitudes than surrounding waters, due to some complex physics they’re still trying to understand. There are two heading our way, to the left of the Loop Current. You can see these as – for lack of a better word – boobies.



Hey, Mom, it’s the dog days of summer and I had to write about something! I hope you all are having a safe and fun summer so far.